In the Dark
by GreenLeoFiend
Summary: In the dark, after the fire in Kermit, Nathan grieves the daughter he barely knew and known only to a precious few. Will he suffer alone, or will allow himself to be consoled? Nathan,Peter,Meredith,Claire


**Title: In the Dark**

**Fan dom: Heroes**

**Rating: T - Violence  
**

**Characters: Nathan, Peter, Meredith, Claire**

**Notes and Spoilers: **_Through "Chapter 14: Distractions" Peter is twelve, and I'm assuming Nathan is 22. Also, the college I used, might be totally off, but I used it for location. (Yes, the age doesn't line up with his age in 3am, but this is a revised theory._) _Probably won't follow the canon in the future... LOL_

* * *

**1992**... 

He was sitting quiet in a dark room alone. He was sitting toward the end of the grand study, right of the fireplace, but the fireplace was not lit. The window was slightly ajar and twelve -year-old Peter could feel the cold winter air tickle his skin.

"Nathan?" Peter called, he rubbed his arms in an attempt regain some warmth. He stepped closer to the room at the end of the hall, and reached for the light switch.

"Don't," Nathan warned, his voice quiet, yet stern.

"Why are you there all by yourself in the dark?" Peter asked.

Nathan didn't answer.

Peter made his way through the maze of furniture from the hallway to wall, using his hands to guide him as the twilight was quickly switching to midnight black.

Nathan was grasping a glass, without ice, and Peter could not help but notice Nathan's fingers were struggling to keep a firm grip.

"Peter," his brother's voice pleaded. "Leave me be. I'm all right. Go back to bed."

"You're not all right. Why aren't you at school? Is something wrong?"

Nathan wouldn't look in his brother's eyes. He couldn't.

The daughter no one knew about was dead. Meredith, a young woman he met his freshman year at Columbia, returned to Texas after she found out she was pregnant. She did so after the two discussed the situation a great deal, such as family expectations and potential scandals. Nathan agreed to take care of the child as best he could without his family knowing, which Meredith was surprising grateful.

The two of them kept correspondence and Nathan even came to visit the little girl, Claire, a few times.

But then his other family got in the way, and it was time to take the LSATs, and to apply to Yale Law, and weeks went by without talking to Meredith on the phone.

Claire been walking for nearly a year, but was she now talking every day? Was she missing her the weekly talks with her father on the phone? Now old enough to begin to understand?

Last week, he got a phone call out of the blue. Meredith's father wanted money, and was demanding money from his "bastard grandchild's deadbeat father." Meredith sounded so desperate on the phone, so scared, that Nathan canceled a few of his classes, rescheduled a few others.

* * *

_He flew to Texas that night, and tried to work things out. Meredith's father was a powerful man, he had connections, and he and Meredith were having a heated battle. First simple words, and then angry screams and shouts. The verbal carnage was bad enough, they sliced and cut deep instead of bouncing back. The words that did bounce back, boiled the blood of the struggling pair and brought the dissension to the next level._

Nathan closed his eyes tightly pleading for the tears to moisten his dry eyes. What he remembered next would forever be seared into his eyes.

_Meredith extended her arms in an effort to push him away from her, and she did, but as she did so, Nathan saw Mr. Gordon burst into flames._

"_Claire!" Meredith screamed, as she stared warily at the back staircase, which was entirely block, The fire that came from her hands, quickly spread, and had now nearly consumed the entire lower floor._

"_Nathan!" Meredith screamed this time, as she realized for the first time that he was there._

_The former lovers stared at each other for a few seconds, before Nathan, without thinking grabbed Meredith and flew away._

_Meredith struggled in his grasp, and there was a precious few seconds that he would lose her grip. She was pleading and begging for Nathan to let her go, she had to save her daughter when the roof collapsed._

"_No! Why! Why didn't you fly back there? Why did you grab me? Why? Why?" Meredith wept._

_She began punching and kicking Nathan while in mid-air._

_Nathan stared back into Meredith's eyes, fear robbing him from the words he needed to scream back._

_Why did you start the fire? What caused you to start the fire? What did you do to start the fire? How did I fly?_

"_I'm sorry..."_

_It was all Nathan could manage._

"_You're sorry?!" Meredith wailed._

_She violently pushed Nathan to the ground, and made a run toward the ash and smothering logs that remained._

_Nathan grabbed her arm, as the sound of sirens came into range._

"_No, Nathan," she pleaded, "She can't be gone. She can't."_

* * *

Peter sat against the foot stool at Nathan's feet. Nathan did not return from his silence. 

"Okay, Nathan," he said, looking up, " you don't need tell me what is wrong if you don't want to, but I am not going to let you be alone in the dark. I will say here all night if I have too."

Nathan put down the glass filled with scotch and kissed Peter on the cheek.

"Thank you Pete."

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**The End**

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**Author Note: **_Yeah, another one-shot. Fans of **AMA**, don't fear, I have started and will post chapter 5 sometime this weekend. This story just like my other one-shots just begged to be written. I got inspired to write this story while Peter and Claude were talking about Nathan. Peter and Nathan are so protective of each other, I love it. Please tell me what you think.  
_


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